Stories tagged: climate

New Malabo Montpellier Panel Report: Climate-proofing Africa’s food systems needs new and reimagined financing models to meet $41.3 billion adaptation cost

ADAPT: Policy innovations to unlock climate finance for resilient food systems in Africa, image: person checking production line, hand holding produce, food vendor with point of sale machine, sprout growing

African governments will need to tap into all domestic and global sources of adaptation finance to meet a shortfall of more than $40 billion to climate-proof food systems, according to the Malabo Montpellier Panel. Continue reading

How Can Agrobiodiversity Help Safeguard Sustainable Food Systems?

Chiara Villani, Agrobiodiversity Index Project Coordinator, and Sarah Jones, Associate Scientist for Sustainable Agricultural Production, at the Alliance of Bioversity International Continue reading

The Role of Engineering in Ending World Hunger

Fethi Thabet, Telecommunications Engineer, City Councillor for Ariana, Tunisia, Continue reading

How Soil Health Contributes to Sustainable Development

Rattan Lal, Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science at The Ohio State University, Continue reading

One Planet Fellowship takes action to discover the next generation of African climate scientists in agriculture

The One Planet Fellowship, a $20 million initiative dedicated to supporting research on climate change adaptation, is an academic mentoring scheme which aims to support Africa’s smallholder farmers in adapting to a changing climate.

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Outcome statement from COP15 Agriculture Day

Agriculture: Where Poverty Reduction, Food Security

and Climate Change Intersect

Statement of Outcomes from Agriculture and Rural Development Day

12 December 2009, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen

A group of more than 300 policymakers, farmers and scientists meeting in Copenhagen today urged on negotiators at the United Nations Climate Change Conference to recognize agriculture’s vital role in climate change adaptation and mitigation.

The group strongly endorsed the proposed target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to avoid a temperature increase of more than 2 degrees C. They stressed that reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture is essential for achieving the target. Farmers and researchers are already finding climate change solutions. On that basis, the agricultural community intends to play a pro-active role in actions aimed at reducing emissions, while increasing the productive capacity of agriculture through the development of sustainable practices.

Agriculture faces the challenge of nearly doubling food production in order to meet the food needs of a population expected to reach 9 billion by mid-century but without increasing the sector’s emissions.. Across most of the tropics, agriculture will continue to face the enormous challenge of adapting to harsh and unpredictable growing conditions.

To meet the climate challenge, substantial additional financing and investment will be needed across the entire rural value chain. New investments must be handled transparently to ensure that adaptation and mitigation are not undermined by reduced support for global food security and rural development. In addition, new investment must be accessible to all stakeholders, including researchers and members of civil society, especially farmers and their associations.

Specifically, the group urged climate negotiators to agree on the early establishment of an agricultural work program under the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA).

Agriculture and Development Day was organized by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development, the Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, the International Federation of Agriculture Producers, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the Global Forum for Agricultural Research, the Earth System Science Partnership.